Emmanuel Chua

Practice Areas

Emmanuel is a senior dispute resolution lawyer with expertise in commercial, banking and finance disputes, special situations and restructuring and insolvency matters. He represents clients before all levels of the Singapore Courts (including the Singapore International Commercial Court) as well as in international arbitration proceedings.

Emmanuel is recognised as a leading lawyer in major legal directories including Chambers ("extremely impressive advocate", "sophisticated in his practice"), Who's Who Legal: Southeast Asia (Recommended) and Benchmark Litigation (Future Star). He features in the prestigious Global Restructuring Review 40 under 40 list of the most highly regarded restructuring and insolvency professionals globally, and was also inducted by Asian Legal Business in its inaugural Super 50 Disputes Lawyers list recognizing the top disputes practitioners based in Asia.

Within the Firm, Emmanuel sits on the Global Restructuring and Insolvency Steering Committee. He is also on the panel of arbitrators of a number of prominent arbitral institutions.

Emmanuel previously co-led the international disputes function in a US oil & gas supermajor, where he managed significant litigation, investigations and crisis management matters across Asia, Middle East, Europe and Africa.

Emmanuel focusses his practice on commercial and financial dispute resolution, with specific expertise in the restructuring and insolvency space where he leads and manages contentious and consensual restructurings (including judicial management / administration), formal insolvencies and enforcement and recovery litigation.

Emmanuel has acted in some of the most prominent Asian-focussed cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters in recent years, representing debtors, creditors and officeholders in myriad complex litigation proceedings including moratorium applications, contested scheme of arrangements, security enforcement, cross-border recognition (under the UNCITRAL Model Law and otherwise), judicial management and avoidance actions. He also has significant experience navigating established overseas insolvency processes including under Chapter 11 and 15 of the US Bankruptcy Code and the English Insolvency Act.

Emmanuel is also active in the arbitration space, regularly appearing as counsel in arbitrations under a range of institutional rules (including the ICC, SIAC, LCIA) and in ad hoc arbitrations, including as lead counsel. He has served as arbitrator (sole and on a three-member panel) in international arbitration proceedings.

Leveraging this experience, Emmanuel regularly advises on pre-dispute risk avoidance and mitigation strategies, including contingency planning, group structuring and strategic advice, often from a cross-jurisdictional perspective.